[Sebastian Alvarez]

[DSE/Spot] “You cannot deliver HD in a PAR of 1.0 outside of a computer. It is delivered at 1.333 on all playback devices. If you want to keep it at 1920, I’ve already told you how. Very few players/applications can read a 1920 x 1080 file in AVC format.”

I’m sorry, but I’m not sure what you mean by this. Several devices, both video cameras and TV sets support full 1920×1080 with a 1.0 PAR, in fact the market is full of them right now. If all those LCDs and camcorders with stickers that say “1920×1080” are really 1440×1080, then all the electronics companies are suicidal because they would get class action lawsuits all over the world. Or maybe I just don’t understand you, because basically what seems to me you’re saying is that 1920×1080 is a resolution that only a computer can display, and everything else is 1440×1080.

[Sebastian Alvarez]

In older HD camcorders it was 1440×1080, but some newer ones like mine (Panasonic SDC HD5) use the full 1920×1080 with 1.0 PAR. And I don’t know about Directv but at least cable doesn’t broadcast in 1440, it does 1920, since I capture verbatim copies from my cable DVR (SA 8300HD) using Firewire, and every program I load those files into tell me that they are 1920×1080.

In the Vegas module that allows AVCHD output, when you select AVCHD with a m2ts wrapper, you cannot select 1920, it grays out any field or drop down list that would allow you to select or change the frame size. Now, if you select the .avc video elementary stream, it does allow you to output a custom frame size, but the resulting file can’t be used in anything I have. For example, if I load it in Nerovision and try to make an AVCHD DVD it tells me it doesn’t recognize it.

Basically, what I want is to be able to put my home videos in an AVCHD disc like the ones the Panasonic software makes, but having edited the video I shot in Vegas. Before you ask, the Panasonic software is very basic and doesn’t allow importing of any other AVCHD files that were not imported from the camcorder to the working folder.

You say “In Vegas, you have frame-accurate editing without a reencode or cut list.” You mean, for other formats, but not for AVCHD, right? Judging by the amount of time it takes to render a timeline that doesn’t have any effects or filters applied to it, it seems obvious to me that it’s re-encoding every single frame.

[Sebastian Alvarez]

What I’m getting at is that the render module that allows you to output an AVCHD file, which is Sony AVC, if you select AVCHD with the m2ts wrapper, the frame size is set to 1440 x 1080 and grayed out, so you can’t modify it. Since my camcorder is 1920x1080i, I don’t want to lose the pixels.

As for smart rendering, I’m not sure we’re talking about the same thing. Are you familiar with a small cutting program called VideoRedo, which works only with Mpeg files? In case you don’t, basically all you can do is select scenes from a video and send them to a list, then save a new video from your selections. It only re-compresses the frames necessary to provide a frame accurate editing because of the GOP restrictions, but it simply copies most of the frames untouched to the new video. That’s what I’m talking about, that’s what I wish I could do with Vegas, or any other NLE. Having a fast computer only makes the re-encoding of those few frames faster, but for the most part it doesn’t use much power because it’s basically copying frames from one file to another.

[Sebastian Alvarez]

Thanks for your reply. Do you know if there are any plans to fully support AVCHD in a future update or full release? I also noticed that the Export module for AVCHD doesn’t do real 1080i but only 1440×1080.

[Sebastian Alvarez]

I don’t have a card, as I don’t use it profesionally. I just use the firewire port in my motherboard. I used FCP when I used to work for a small editing house, but when it was time to renew my personal equipment I found Macs too expensive and restrictive for my taste, and while I don’t manufacture the components, there’s a certain sense of pride in assembling my own computer with all the components and brands that I choose. I wish FCP was available for Windows though, while I like Premiere I find it too lacking in certain features. I see your points, as well as Jon’s, but to me it’s still a lot of steps for something that I should be able to do in a few.

In synthesis, I do find FCP better than Premiere, but if you want FCP you have to shell out over $2400 in a desktop Mac (no iMacs for me, puh-lease), while I assembled a pretty fast PC with top brand components for about $1200.

[Sebastian Alvarez]

Fine, but if you import that project which used the Microsoft DV codec, and your current project uses the Desktop setting with let’s say, Huffyuv, or just totally uncompressed, and you either export the imported sequence to an avi file, or to MPEG-2 for DVD output, doesn’t Premiere render things like overlay titles and color correction in the MS DV codec regardless of what you set as the current codec?

It seems to me such a waste of time to have to setup another project just to be able to render in another codec. In FCP you can do that with a few clicks and you don’t even need to go out of the project, in fact up to Premiere 6.5 you used to be able to do it in Premiere too, along with the possibility of setting up sequences that had different aspect ratios, even different frame sizes, all in the same project. What if, for example, you’re editing a project that consists of both a 16:9 sequence and and a 4:3? In Premiere you have to setup one individual project for each video. It’s so ridiculous.